Incipient
by AwaitTheRise
Summary: Even second chances have a price- she's gone back too far. And somehow she knows that this time, nothing will be the same.
1. Seven Years

Title: Seven Years

Type: drabbles, Time travel, non-massacre

Words: 139

Song: Green Day- Wake Me Up When September Ends

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a couple of teddy bears and this plot (of land?of story?).

Pairings: ItaSaku, rest to be decided later

Author's Notes: So, just started this (obviously), and am so happy to have finally gotten off my butt and actually (gasp) posted a story! I have like thirty different ideas, but I think I'll be sticking with this one for now :) And have I mentioned (outside of my head, that is) that I just looooove time-travel and AU's? Probably not. I also love ItaSaku (hello, OTP) so most of my stories are probably going to be like that... But this won't have any ItaSaku romance in it for a looong time. :( Anyways, read, relax and review! Pretty please?

* * *

_incipient: adj; beginning to exist or appear_

* * *

When the old crone offers me a chance to change the past, I laugh to her face. (_it is a bitter, broken sound, but it's not like anybody is left to care_)

Something like that was (_of course)_ impossible, too good to be true. (_because, really, there is no room for hope in this world already filled with the rotting __stench of corpses_)

But there is a strange look in her eyes (_pity for a dead girl_) and I shiver (_someone walking over my already-filled grave, no doubt_) and suddenly I am _mad._

So I take that (_god-forsaken_) _chance_ with a sneer, just to prove those hateful eyes wrong (_but there is a small, always-present place __that whispers of long-ago glory days) _

I take it because, really, even if it worked, ( _and I left this place of nothing_ ) _t__here is nothing left to keep me here._


	2. And Ashes Fell Like Snow

Title: And Ashes Fell Like Snow

Words: 130

Song: Linkin Park- New Divide

* * *

I wake up to destruction.

There is ash in the air and debris strewn through the cracked earth.

The air is almost _burning _and I hear screams and the clash of kunai. ( _was there someone left to fight?_ )

Thoughts race through my mind as I try to remember what happened. (_because this wasn't here before_)

There is chakra swirling everywhere as jutsu fly in the chaos and my jumbled thoughts try to make sense.( _sense? since when has that been a factor?_ )

I push myself off the burnt ground, my mind still foggy, my muscles sore.( _just the usual_ )

My breath hitches in my throat as the memories rush through my head. (_because this is all too familiar_)

You see, I've woken up in a war zone.


	3. Burn It To The Ground

Title: Burn It To The Ground

Words: 283

Song: Linkin Park- Burn it down

* * *

I stagger to my feet, my head swiveling around, my eyes searching for _something _familiar. (_a thought comes to mind that anything familiar is in the past; only later do I realize how ironic that is_)

The world shakes and it takes me a few seconds for my disoriented body to realize that it isn't me- something _dangerous_ is making the earth pound. ( _though in a world where men are the monsters, what isn't dangerous?_)

As I drag myself away from the source of the tremors (_because it is seven years too late to be a hero) _my vision clears up; the smoke and ash are blown away by a sudden breeze, no doubt from a jutsu. (_a warning blares in the back of my mind that I ignore for the sake of sanity) _

I see what looks like the ruins of a village, streets and buildings crumbling to the ground. ( _nothing you haven't seen before_ )

A bestial roar (_a great thing of rage; does something sound familiar, broken one?_) and suddenly the earth quakes and I stumble and fall ( _pitiful, really. aren't shinobi supposed to be graceful? but then again, you never were very good, were you _) and as I get up and look around wildly, trying to get my bearings I see it- just for a second.

But it is enough, and a shot of triumph shoots through my veins. ( _because, see, look here, I've done it _)

And then my mind catches up with my heart and a bolt of fear races through me- my nightmares have been realized. ( _not just nightmares, memories, because this has happened before, remember? _)

Konoha is burning.


	4. World On Fire

Title: She's Living In a World and It's On Fire

Words: 200

Song: Alicia Keys- Girl On Fire

* * *

The world is on fire.

The fire is everywhere- trees burn with it, buildings fall to it, the sky is covered with it.

My heart pounds wildly as I jerk my head around, eyes straining, trying to make sense of all the confusion ( _but I have always been blind _) but all I see is fire.

And the thumping of my heart grows louder and louder ( _have you missed this? the panic, the confusion, the noise. have you missed this? the screams, the gasps, the pain. have you missed this? have you missed war, dear? Because I know I have._ ) until it's not only my heart anymore.

Something else ( _something dangerous. something...familiar_ ) is here, here on this burning earth, and it is big.

My eyes flicker, trying to find it, and then I do.

Tails ( _nine of them, that cursed number _) beat the ground in a steady rhythm,( _my heart stops for a second and the tails beat for it_ ) corrupted chakra coiling off them and onto everything they touch ( _my heart stops because this has happened before, remember?_ ).

The Kyuubi's acid chakra burns the earth and swallows the sky.


	5. Twisted Sun

Title: Twisted Sun

Words: 202

Song: Recommendations?

Author's note: I know my chapters are ridiculously short, but there are reasons for that. 1) I write these mostly after I finish my work in class. 2) I'm planning on updating every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. That makes three updates a week :) 3) I'm planning on this being really, really long, so I'm trying to divide it up into short bits. 4) I am a ridiculously huge procrastinator, and very lazy to boot. 5) If I feel like I have to write something long I won't enjoy it. 6) Not all chapters will be this puny. They'll still be really short, though. 7) I really, really like dramatic endings. 8)I have a life. So there you go! Also, do you guys have song recommendations? I don't really listen to music that much... Anyways, thank you for reading!

* * *

_The Kyuubi._

It is eating the earth, devouring it, laying waste upon the land.

It is terrifying in it's full form, the ears flattened along it's skull, claws digging and tearing and ripping.

It's nine tails writhe behind it like twisted rays of the sun; I- nine tails.

It is the Kyuubi, and it has _nine tails. _

I quickly race through my memories ( _go back; go back seven years, to a time of bloodshed and war and strife. go back seven years, to before the world was broken- to a world with hope_ ).

Seven years ago the _ten tails_ ( _monstrous beast; destroyer of the heavens, devourer of worlds_ ) had been formed in a pit of hatred and death ( _and had shredded the world to pieces_ ) but this monster only had nine tails.

My heart raced- if this was before the formation of the _Juubi _then I still had a chance. ( _but why was the kyuubi in konoha in its full form?_ )

A chance to save them. ( _this hadn't happened before. what had happened to_ him_ when the kyuubi broke free?_ )

A chance that could not be missed.

A chance to save Naruto.


	6. Run From The Truth

Title: Run From The Truth

Words: 372

Song: Trisha Yearwood- I Don't Want To Be The One

* * *

There would be three reasons for the kyuubi to be fully formed.

The Akatsuki ( _or_ _madara, king of monsters_ ) could have extracted it.

In a rage, Naruto could have lost control of the kyuubi.

Or Naruto and the kyuubi could be working together, Naruto somehow managing to befriend it in that mysterious way of his. The last reason was the one that I was betting on. ( _too bad you inherited tsunade's gambling skills_ )

The problem was, the kyuubi had never reached its full form in Konoha. ( _really? seems like someone is forgetting their history lessons_ )

The closest to it would be when Pein had attacked the village and, seeing Hinata get hurt protecting him, Naruto had lost control. But even then the kyuubi had only reached its eight-tailed form before Naruto had managed to regain control. ( _there's a simpler explanation, dear, if only you weren't so scared to realize it_ )

But whatever had happened, I had to find Naruto quickly.

My eyes narrow in concentration, and I head towards the kyuubi, where he would most likely be; my chakra spreads out, searching for a hint of Naruto's own. My heart skips a beat when I find it- it is as small and weak as a newborn babe's, and feels strange, almost- pure, like it was somehow separated from the kyuubi's malicious, tainted chakra.

My mind races- was it the Akatsuki? But it had taken them days to extract the Ichibi from Gaara, and I doubted that Konoha shinobi would have let them do it in the middle of the village. Then, _and my body shivered at the mere thought of his name,_ it was _Madara_.

But no, _he_ had never felt the need to hide his chakra. ( _and it had loomed over the battlefield with an edge of insanity, oppressive, choking the less skilled warriors and bringing them to their knees with fear _) If he was here then everybody would know.

I put it aside for now; something had probably changed when I went back.

And judging from how weak Naruto's chakra was, he was in danger.

( _really, dear, you're starting to anger me with your blatant refusal of the truth._ )


	7. No Matter What

Title: No Matter What / A Dream Is Being Born

Words: 291

Song: Meatloaf- Home By Now / No Matter What

* * *

My breath comes hard and fast as I run, pushing chakra towards the soles of my feet every time they hit the bark with a thud.

My mind whirls with questions- What had separated Naruto from the Kyuubi? How had the hag transported me back in time? But the most pressing was, _where had everyone gone? _( _a treacherous voice in the back of my head whispered 'not here'_ )

The moment I had spread my chakra I had felt both unknown signatures, which I supposed were nin from from different villages and those I had never come into contact with, (as shinobi didn't really tend to socialize) and the slightly familiar, all engulfed by the kyuubi's monstrous chakra.

There were the ones that I had come into contact with before, and the related. Families and clans tended to have similar chakra signatures; I could detect the calm Nara's, the probing chakra of the Yamanaka, the fierce, dog-like Inuzuka.

I could sense a surprising amount of them; I guessed that it's because my chakra sensing abilities had improved since I was younger, and there were more clan members around now. ( _then before, when families had been broken and clans destroyed_ )

I had sensed achingly familiar ones, ( _those with which we had danced and laughed and smiled, those that we loved_ ) but they were somehow... changed from what I remembered. ( _but though we clung to the memories with desperation, how could the feeling of their existence stay the same, when we could not? _ )

Was it some kind of effect of going back? And if it was, what else had changed?

_But that didn't matter, because no matter the cost, we have a chance to change everything._


	8. The Brightest Flame

Title: The Brightest Flame

Words: 274

Song: The Script- Hall Of Fame

* * *

My body felt like it was on fire.

Adrenaline ran through my veins like lightning ( _like it hadn't for a long time now_ ) and my breathing quickened with excitement ( _a rookie mistake_ ) before slowing down.

I sped up my pace, pushing myself, dodging leaves and branches in a practiced way that was almost instinctive. ( _because we had lived and breathed this forest, had grown up cradled in its branches_ )

I was nearing _him._ And I ran and ran and ran until finally, _finally, _I reached him. ( _finally caught up after all these years? strange you should say that, you know. because you never, ever reached them._ )

The kyuubi was roaring and growling, and _he was there._

_ Naruto. _

( _shinobi aren't allowed the luxury of tears, dear._ )

Standing straight and tall, moving faster than anybody had thought possible, wearing his father's coat. ( _because that was the only keepsake he had left behind. that, and a monster._ )

And then the kyuubi's claws scored the ground and _he_ turned towards me. His eyes widened as they met mine, as my world came crashing down on me, crushing and ruthless. ( _you can't ignore the signs anymore, dear. it's bad for our health, you know._ )

Eyes widened on the face that had watched over us as children; the one we had had told stories and myths about.

The face etched into the very mountain.

The stone guardian.

The yellow flash.

The fourth Hokage.

The one said to be one of the greatest inheritors of the Will Of Fire.

Eyes wide, Minato Namikaze stared back at me.


	9. Take A Stand

Title: Take A Stand

Words: 511

Song: Eminem- Not Afraid

* * *

_No. _This couldn't be- it wasn't- he couldn't- this wasn't possible. _How was this possible? _A genjutsu. A henge. A clone. No, those weren't it.

My hands shook as I tried to think of a reason- any reason- for why he was here. I grasped one- the Nidaime Hokage's resurrection jutsu, perfected by Orochimaru. But it had taken him _years _to perfect. But there was no other option. Maybe Madara had somehow used it? ( _but you know he never even learned it. that's why he had kabuto, remember?_ )

My mind searched through it's vast store of knowledge - a result of years of a thirst for knowledge - trying to find a reason, _any reason, _for this not to be true. _Because it couldn't be true. _( _why not? _)

It couldn't, it couldn't, it- (_Stop it. It is unbecoming of a kunoichi to panic. Now is not the time to dwell on the consequences. Now, assess the situation, taking into account all the evidence.) _Okay, okay.

Minato was here, battling the kyuubi. The chakra signatures of the shinobi I had been close to had felt different, and some of them weren't even there. There was a greater number of shinobi that felt like clan and family members than there were in- in my time. The strange old lady had sent me into the past.

Therefore... ( _therefore? _) It would be logical to conclude that I had been sent to the day that the kyuubi had attacked Konoha.

The Yondaime's death day.

Naruto's birthday.

And – my eyes widened at the realization – the day the kyuubi had been sealed into Naruto.

My heart beat against my chest. I couldn't allow that to happen again – no, I couldn't let Naruto be alone again.

I couldn't- I couldn't allow Minato to sacrifice himself like that. For Naruto's sake.

A shout broke through me thoughts.

"RUN!"

It was Minato, fighting the kyuubi, and I saw that he had his back facing me, trying to protect me. ( _because that's what Hokage do._ )

I moved out of the way, not yet sure of what I could do. The kyuubi built up its chakra in its mouth (I dimly recognized it as the beginnings of a tailed beast bomb) and Minato, seeing that I was out of harm's reach, vanished.

I blinked, and then looked around. Where had he gone? He couldn't have just teleported away or something. _You idiot, that's what he's known for! _Okay, so maybe he could have.

And then he was back, popping out of nowhere just as the kyuubi fired his tailed beast bomb.

His arms were full, carrying a woman with long red hair and- was that a baby? _Naruto!_ That little thing was Naruto!

The woman moved, chains of pure chakra coming out of her to restrain the kyuubi, and I felt a barrier start to come up.

And at that moment, I finally understood what I had to do.

I moved.


	10. Save The World Tonight

Title: Part 1- Save The World Tonight

Words: 490

Song: Swedish House Mafia - Save The World

Dedication: To Doujin-Maker for reviewing thrice! (which may not seem like a lot to you but means a lot to me) And the guest, my first reviewer :3

Author's Note: Hiya peeps! This week, things change up and Minato and Kushina get the spotlight! I'm uploading twice today as an apology for uploading late last Tuesday and Thursday, (I still feel guilty about that...) but I was super busy, had all sorts of end-of-the-year projects due, had EOC's, I have exams to study for, plus the seniors are graduating, and we were getting our yearbooks, and I had to memorize a monologue, and... well, you get the picture. Now for the actually important stuff: **you may notice that I changed from Sakura's first person POV (which I suck at) to others POV. This will happen occasionally**. While this centers around Sakura, other characters will add their own input and I will write from their point of view (most of this will be Itachi, but other main characters will have a fair amount of show time. Hopefully.) **_I would love your input, so please take the time to review, and I'm also looking for song recommendations for future chapters! Thank you for reading!_**

* * *

Looking at the kyuubi with narrowed eyes, Minato desperately thought of a way to get it away from his people, his brilliant mind quickly flickering through possible scenarios as the kyuubi started gathering chakra to form a bijuu bomb.

Making up his mind, he bit his thumb (_because a blood sacrifice was always needed_) he summoned Gamabunta, who held down the demon long enough for the Hokage _(protector of the people, but one could never protect everyone)_ to grab his hiraishin kunai and gather enough chakra to teleport them both, Gamabunta dispersing the gathered chakra as he hit the demon.

Grabbing hold of the chakra that was so dense it was in physical form, he transported them both to a safe house whose barrier had hiraishin kunai embedded into it.

The safe house was destroyed as the disoriented Kyuubi thrashed around, roaring and reaching out with his chakra.

Minato coolly scanned the area, looking for any trace of the masked shinobi that he had fought, and sharp eyes caught a flash of pink.

It was a woman in bright civilian clothes. What was she doing out here? This was no place for a shinobi, much less a civilian. _(she should not be here, not in this place, not in this time)_ He felt a stab of frustration and worry; he had to get to Kushina and Naruto.

As he came closer he noticed that though her body was slight, it was toned and fit, and she had a kunai pouch and a weapon in her hand. He immediately raised his guard. So she was a kunoichi, then. Was she foreign, or from Konoha?

Or could she be working with the man who called himself Madara? The masked man (_the originator of all troubles, but he didn't know that yet_) had seemed like he was working alone, but one could never be too careful. He didn't recognize her, but he hadn't been Hokage for that long, and he was bound to not recognize everybody yet.

She had no headband and her clothes were civilian, but that could easily be explained by the fact that the kyuubi had attacked without warning in the middle of the night.

All this went through his head in the split-second before the kyuubi recovered from its disorientation; the kyuubi didn't really have a physical body to bind it to the world, and the teleportation had messed with its bond to this world. Recovered, the monster began attacking everything within reach, including the kunoichi.

"RUN!" Minato yelled, placing himself in between them, _(because though he could not save everyone, he had to try)_ distracting the kyuubi, trying to slow the coming of the tailed beast bomb as the girl moved.

With a note of panic, he realized that the blast could hurt Kushina and Naruto.

Pulling on the connection he had to the kunai he had left with Kushina, he twisted through time and space and vanished.


	11. Things Get Broken

Title: Part 2- Master Plan/ Things Get Broken

Words: 406

Song: Depeche Mode - Precious

* * *

Gathering a weary Kushina _(in her condition she wouldn't, couldn't, last long, but he pushed that thought away because it was unthinkable)_ and a sleeping Naruto, Minato reached for the familiar pull of the seal in his hiraishin kunai, slipping through space tiredly just as the kyuubi fired his bijuu bomb.

Hiding behind a tree he gently set Kushina down, cradling his son (_his son!_) in his arm.

Reason and emotion swirled in a storm inside him as the beginnings of a plan (_a sacrifice_) began to form in the edge of his mind, and he tried to ground himself, focusing on the simple, basic steps he needed to take _(because if he thought about it any more he would break)_ .

"Gotta put up a barrier", he murmured, not realizing that Kushina had heard him.

* * *

"My chakra's almost drained", she whispered, _but I can do this much for them. _

Trembling, she forced her chakra out of her and into the shape of chains, binding the kyuubi, _always the jailer and the prisoner, but they never knew which was which, because they while they were separate entities they were one and the same_.

Coughing up blood from the effort, she glanced worriedly at Naruto, _her baby, her love, her world, _who had begun to wail.

"Kushina!" Minato worriedly rushed to her, supporting her as he always did, in everything, _and his hands felt warm against the fading heat of her flesh_.

"Sorry Naruto... I didn't... mean to wake you..." she said, her breathing heavy and labored _as she spoke to the child who did not understand because she had no time left_.

"Kushina..." Minato began worriedly, and she looked up at him with love and hope and faith _that he would raise their son well. _Eyes determined and burning into his, she allowed herself one _final_ look.

"I'll drag the nine-tails back... and die with it inside me...", she said, determined _to protect them, _yet resigned to the fate that she always knew was coming, _because she had always known that the monster and its keeper would drag each other down into their mutual destruction_.

"You'll do nothing of the sort", said an arrogant _confident_ voice.

Minato's head jerked up and his eyes widened, and Kushina whipped around and crouched into a fighting position, _with all the speed of a shinobi and the grace of a kunoichi_, willing to do anything to protect her precious people.


	12. The Rising Sun

Title: The Rising Sun

Words: 1,364

Song: Animals - House of the Rising Sun

* * *

I moved, my feet carrying me through the barrier just before it came up.

The kyuubi was twisting, snapping, thrashing, trying to break free of its chains.

The woman was speaking to the Yondaime, and as I got closer I realized that she reminded me of Naruto.

Wailing broke through my thoughts and I looked down to see Naruto in Minato's arms. The woman (Naruto's mother, I realized with a start) was saying something, and Minato's face was creased with worry.

My mind raced through all the possible options, everything I had ever heard about the Kyuubi and sealing it.

I got close enough to hear what she had to say.

"I'll drag the nine-tails back... and die with it inside of me...", she ground out, and I felt anger rising up on me. How dare she think that she could leave Naruto alone? My mind flashed through distant memories of my childhood. ( _a boy with a fake smile, always wary, always skirting the edges, reaching out to anyone and everyone_ ) Naruto needed her; couldn't she see that?

Minato's eyes widened as I approached them. My spine straightened, and making sure not to show any sign of aggression, I spoke in a confident ( _arrogant_ ) voice. If I wanted them to have the slightest chance of them believing me, I had to act like I knew what I was talking about, like I was absolutely certain in this, like I had a zero percent chance of failing.

"You'll do nothing of the sort", I said, and the red-headed former jinchuuriki spun around, her eyes blazing, and it was then that I understood where Naruto had gotten his unfailing determination and desire to protect his friends. This woman had the same fire in her soul, without any fear for what would happen to her self. At that moment I knew she would do anything to protect her family.

"Who are you?" she practically snarled out, before she broke down coughing, blood bubbling from her lips and dripping down her chin. "Kushina!" Minato yelled, worried hands grasping her tightly.

I mentally assessed her. She was probably bleeding internally, and, already weak from giving birth, having the kyuubi ripped out of her had almost pushed her past the point of no return. If I didn't get to her soon she would die.

"I'm someone who's here to help." I said, my gentle tone at odds with my previous arrogance. She snorted, blood bubbling down her nostrils as a result, and Minato, still holding her tightly, took the chance to ask me what I had meant.

"Well, you wouldn't want to leave Naruto-kun alone, would you ?" Their eyes widened and Minato's grip on his son tightened. I had surprised them by knowing his name.

For a moment, they shared a face of distress, before Minato's face hardened. "We are a family of shinobi. If we have to make sacrifices for the greater good of the village, than we will." _And I can't live without her, was what hung in the air._ Minato's voice was colder than ice, though I saw the pain in their eyes as he spoke.

I couldn't help it- I laughed. "Do you honestly thing that _Madara_ would let Konoha, let _Naruto_, survive? If you do, than you are truly an _idiot_." I hissed. ( _shinobi_ _don't get carried away by hysterics, and you are a shinobi, are you not?_ ) Their faces showed surprise at the venom in my voice when I spoke his name, and Kushina's eyes flickered to Minato's for a split second.

I had taken a chance, by mentioning his name. Madara had once said ( _had once taunted_ ) Naruto with the fact that he had fought his father, the Yondaime, on the day of his death. I did not know if Minato had figured out _Madara's_ identity before his death in the previous time, but I had to take the chance.

Minato's face hardened as he spoke. "Sarutobi is coming. He will make sure that Naruto is cared for." "Oh? And what if _he_ comes after him?" He glanced at Kushina, and their eyes met. "Make no mistake, the Sandaime is strong yet, and Madara is gravely injured. And I believe that with the kyuubi's help" -here Kushina gasped, her face full of surprise and worry- " Naruto will be able to protect the village." I sneered outwardly, but inside my mind was racing.

So this was what he had thought, what he had hoped for, when he sealed the kyuubi into Naruto the first time?

"And so, you will leave your son all alone, with a monster in him, to fight someone you could not defeat." Minato's eyes spoke volumes- grief, hesitance, worry, determination, belief, hope.

He glanced down at the infant that he held gently in his arms, his eyes softening. "If it is him, he will do it. And _we_ will _always_ be with him. Even in death." ( _too bad you can't say the same._ ) Kushina's eyes met Minato's, and they shared a glance so full, so full of love and hope, grief and determination, that my heart couldn't help but ache.

"That won't be necessary," I said softly, in awe of them. ( _of their love, their trust, their perfect fit._ ) This was where Naruto belonged- in their arms. "I'm a medic. I can heal you, Namikaze-san."

"And how do we know that you're not the enemy?" Kushina asked, her voice sharp and protective. My eyes met Kushina's, and I bared my soul to her. I tried to show her all the suffering, the tears, the _weariness. _( _because we are so, so tired of loss._ ) Her face softened in understanding, and she gave me a small nod. I crouched down, and Minato made to move, only to be stopped by Kushina's hand on his arm.

My hands glowed, full of green chakra, and I gently passed them over Kushina, analyzing her body. Briefly, I wondered at her body's resilience; any other in her place would have already died- this must be where Naruto got his stamina from.

My chakra swept through her body, mending, fixing, healing, and some of it moved to join Kushina's chains. My eyes flickered up.

"You are the kyuubi's jinchuuriki. You still share a connection, and the seal still remains in your body." She nodded in understanding, and then her fascinated eyes drew back to her healing body. "But you cannot take all of it back." Her head jerked up, and she opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off.

"You were injured when you were separated from the kyuubi. Your body simply can't take the strain of the kyuubi's full being."

I shifted to look at Minato, mindful to keep a steady flow of chakra to Kushina. He had been quiet while we were talking, and I assumed that he had been thinking things through. His eyes were on Kushina, watching her grow stronger with amazement, his hand tightening on hers.

He reluctantly moved to meet my eyes. "You'll have to use the eight trigrams seal on Naruto, and seal half of the kyuubi into him." His eyes sharpened at the mention of the seal, but he nodded in understanding; he had, after all, been planning to do it anyways.

Fully healed, I stopped the flow of chakra, and Kushina and Minato rose, Naruto still in his father's arms.

I looked at these living legends, my heart beating hard. ( _could I rise with them? was there ever a chance, could I ever deserve, to stand beside them?_ )

I stood up. ( _in another world, you could never, ever, could. _)

I walked to stand on Minato's other side, looking down on the infant. The one who had been my brother, my teammate, my precious person. The one that I had loved fully, unconditionally, with everything I had.

I gasped as his eyes slowly opened, his eyes the same pure blue as they had been the last time I saw him.

(_ but this is a new world, and we aren't playing by the same rules here._ )


	13. I Promise Your Life

Title: Something something.

Words: 897

Song: I'll think of one later...

Author's note: My mentally ill cousin just jumped off a bridge, and I'm going to visit my family (and a bunch of graves) over in Europe. **In light of these recent events, I will be going on hiatus until this August as I am not sure that I'll have the resources or the inclination to update. **I apologize for not updating sooner and for giving no warning, but hopefully you'll survive.

* * *

Hiruzen rushed towards where they had seen the bijuu bomb go off, an elite group of shinobi following behind him.

Abruptly he stopped, the kyuubi coming into view. It was chained down by what looked like Kushina's chakra chains. He cursed as his shinobi stopped behind him. "What's happening, Sandaime-sama?"

He felt his heart clench. "We're too late, they've put up a barrier around the nine-tails!" He reached out to touch the barrier before him, desperately wishing he could do something. "Whatever they're doing, they're doing it alone."

Worriedly he thought about his dear Biwako, who had been there with Kushina as she had given birth. That the kyuubi had broken free from its human prison did not bode well, and he feared for his precious wife. Somehow he could feel it in his soul that she was gone, and his heart ached.

They had had a good life, a long one for a shinobi, one filled with honor and duty, love and happiness, smiles and laughter. Though not all had been good, they had persevered. Together they had had two dear children, and after that had grown old together.

Being a shinobi was a dangerous business, and they all went into it prepared for the sacrifices they would have to make and the loss they would have to suffer.

So why did it still feel like his heart had broken, split in two, and he could not go on?

* * *

I watched as Kushina's chakra chains tightened on the kyuubi, coiling ever tighter around it, choking and squeezing it into submission. The nine-tails pounded the ground and its claws raked the earth beneath it as it tried to loosen its chains. I winced at the deafening sound that beat through my head.

Fascinated, I watched as the kyuubi's chakra inched down the chains, gathering around the fierce redhead in an orange glow as she cried out. I rushed to her, green medical chakra covering my hands in a thin sheet.

I had seen what that chakra had done to Naruto in his four-tailed state, and without the backing of the kyuubi's healing abilities it had the potential to be fatal to the woman.

My chakra bathing her in a faint green light, I took a closer look at the battling chakra as I healed Kushina. It was going back and forth between the two monstrous forces like Kushina and the nine-tails were playing tug o' war, and I realized that this was a battle between their wills.

I snorted, and Minato took the time out of his preparations to look at me strangely. Inwardly I smirked. Because if Kushina was anything like Naruto, than this battle of the wills was already over.

* * *

She felt stronger than she had in days, no longer weighed down by a baby in her belly and the kyuubi fighting her as the seal weakened. She cast a caring glance at her son and husband before she turned to the kyuubi, narrowing her eyes. Somehow it seemed to sense what she wanted, and fought even harder against the binding chains.

Gathering up her chakra, calling it from every part of her body, she slowly, painfully dragged him in, her special chakra chains slithering back into her as the monster came closer, fighting her for every inch of the way, roaring and thrashing in her chakra's grasp.

The strange kunoichi and Minato, Naruto still held in his arms, looked on worriedly as she battled the kyuubi. Bound so tightly it could barely move, the kyuubi's chakra was slowly siphoned off into its familiar place behind the seal.

It felt odd, Kushina thought, to be bringing the monster back to its prison, to be voluntarily locking it up again, when she had spent so much of her life despising the demon inside of her.

She began to glow with an orange chakra, her ears and teeth lengthening from the kyuubi's chakra overloading her chakra coils. It felt like she was burning, like her very skin was being torn away from her, and the kunoichi rushed to her side as she cried out.

The kyuubi was getting noticeably smaller, and Kushina smirked at the sign of her victory. Then all she could see was the orange glow of an acid hate, and she closed her eyes to keep it from blinding her.

* * *

When she opened them again, she was in a vast, unlit enclosed space, one she immediately recognized as where the kyuubi had met its jailers for centuries.

There was the sound of water dripping nearby, and her feet sloshed in the dark water as she turned around. Behind her there was only darkness, and in front of her was the nightmare that had terrorized her dreams.

The nine-tails, the living nightmare and bearer of an eternal hatred, chuckled, its dark tone spending shivers down her spine. The diminished monster glared at her, its slitted eyes alight with a burning hatred deeper and darker than anything she had ever felt before.

His words reverberated through the dark, ancient room, shaking her very being. _**" You will regret this. I will tear the flesh from your bones and rip your soul to shreds. And as I do, I will make sure you regret ever being Uzumaki Kushina." **_

Her lips curled up in a smirk faintly reminiscent of the monster in front of her. "Hello, old friend."


	14. The Dawning Future

**A/N**: I really wanted to post this up in celebration of Itachi's birthday, but things got away from me... Well, whatever. **I'm still on hiatus**, but I really just wanted to finish the _prologue _before just leaving it. I would have put the author's note and dedications on the next chapter (a multiple of 5) but it's a little weird... So here we go!

Dedicated To: **silverwolfigther00, angel897, Batang May Scolio, Infinite Nosferatu, Guest, and as always, Doujin-Maker! And of course, to all my other readers! I seriously love you guys :)  
**

-See you in August!

* * *

**_Look towards the Dawn, for it shall illuminate the Earth, and we shall gaze upon the Sun._**

* * *

Biting his thumb and drawing blood, ( _because for things as powerful as this, a blood sacrifice was always needed_ ) Minato smashed his palm into the ground, summoning the ceremonial throne needed for the Eight Trigrams seal.

Kushina, exhausted by her part of the sealing, sank down to the ground and I hurried towards her.

My heart stuttered as the father ( _the savior, the leader, the dead man walking_ ) placed his son ( _the pariah, the sacrifice, the hated, the demon_ ) onto the sacrificial throne; the kyuubi, now half of its original size,was growing lighter, its chakra changing from the deep red it had been before.

For a moment the demon paused and looked straight at me, strangely, like it couldn't understand what I was doing there, like it knew that I was different, and I felt my soul shiver at its intensity.

And then Minato started the sealing process and I tore myself away from the all-too-knowing eyes to focus on Naruto. I forced myself to watch, ( _because I owed him this much_ ) not daring to blink, my heart tearing in two as the seal appeared on his belly and the whisker-like marks ( _what had marked him as different, as hated, as lonely, as a monster_ ) grew on his cheeks.

And then it was over, strangely enough. The space in front of us felt empty, devoid of the powerful life-force that had occupied it moments previously. The world seemed absolutely frozen, silent and still, like the world had stopped spinning and time had stopped (_and maybe it had, just for a moment, pausing for a second to observe the momentous occasion that had shifted the wheels of fate, tangling the red threads of souls unrecognizable_). And then the spell was broken and the earth once again spun, time once again sped on.

Kushina released the barrier as Naruto cried loudly, unsettled by the large amount of foreign chakra in his system. The Sandaime ( _my heart skipped a beat to see him alive and well, and for a second I thought I had seen a ghost_) came in a hurry, shinobi following behind him urgently.

Minato, holding the infant jinchuuriki, helped Kushina up. I stared blatantly at them, looking strangely at the surreal ( _perfect_ ) picture- the orphan and his parents- and suddenly it all came crashing down on me ( _because I was here, and they were alive, and I was in the past_ ) and I took a step back from the _proof _right in front of me ( _because didn't belong here, not at all, and they knew it too, that I wasn't supposed to be here, that I marred the perfect picture_ ) and I slipped into black bliss as they came towards me.

* * *

Kushina cradled her arms protectively around her son, her eyes softening as she gazed upon his perfect, chubby little face.

Her hand slipped into Minato's, a soft and comforting anchor to the world around her.

They had all made it through the night alive and whole, thanks to the woman who was standing a little apart from the rest of the group, looking a little lost. Kushina knew it in her very soul that if she had not been there, she- and maybe Minato, too, would not be here right now.

Her eyes sharpened with determination and something else, something that wouldn't have been identified if anyone had seen it. It was settled, then.

She owed this woman a debt that she would never be able to repay.

* * *

Itachi sat on the porch, his young _otouto _being gently rocked to sleep in his arms.

He had sat there the whole night, listening to the roars of the nine-tails, praying for the safety of his parents and hoping to catch a glimpse of the Hokage that Shisui-san liked so much (though that might be hard, because Shisui-san said that he was the fastest person alive, and that if he ran right past you he was so fast that you wouldn't see him, and Shisui-san was generally right about this kind of stuff).

Eventually the roars and the tiny tremors had stopped, and Itachi had relaxed a little, because it didn't seem like Sasuke needed protecting from the monster anymore (though Sasuke always needed protecting from something, so Itachi would watch over him anyways).

His parents weren't here yet, so he would wait for them. He didn't mind, though, even if they were late.

Sasuke was cuddled up in his arms, and now everything was peaceful and calm. The sun was rising above the treetops, the light shining through the forest. A bird the same color as Kushina obasan's hair flew by, whistling.

And the sky was alive with colors, shades of blue and light purple, a deep orange, pale yellow, deep red, and a beautiful pink.

* * *

**_End of Prologue_**


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